La niña que a todos les va a facinar

Rach and I with the Midwives last Saturday

Sitting here on a cold Friday. We don't get very many cold Fridays here. Not very many cold any days actually. Life has been far from normal lately. Rach has been having regular contractions that seem to be growing more painful as the days go by. The other night we were all but convinced that the time had come. It hadn't, and the rush of adrenaline produced by the anxiety of the moment didn't serve any purpose beyond keeping me from sleeping that night. When I get anxious about something, I tend to sleepwalk. Last night, so says Rachel, I was up at two in the morning looking for our cat Romeo in the bedroom. When I couldn't find him there, I proceeded to the living room. She gently guided me back to bed. I have no memory of that whatsoever.

The official due date is next Saturday, February 24th. Rachel's sister, Melissa is coming down in a couple of days, hoping to be here for the birth. We feel like we are basically ready - Rachel's strong nesting instinct has helped us get the house nice and clean. No doubt every corner and crevice will be sanitized by the time she's done with it. Aisha's room still needs some work, but I'll be able to tackle that early next week as long as she's not here yet.

It is warming up this afternoon - supposed to be beautiful. That will be nice, since around 270 students are making their way down here as I write for a two day trip into Mexico with our church. Yes, I will be hosting teams in Mexico this weekend. I'm going to follow behind one of our busses in my Jeep; cell phone set to extra loud + vibrate. Rach and I dearly love being in Mexico. Over the years we've been able to build so many strong relationships with churches and pastors there. This Summer Rach and I met an elderly couple in Rio Bravo who needed some serious help. The Señora had just had her leg amputated due to diabetes. She was bed-ridden, and they were both confused about all of the medications the doctor had given them. The man lifted up a bottle of asprin and told me, "Se me hace que esta es para la infección." He thought the asprin was her antibiotic, her antibiotic was her diabetes medication, and wasn't sure what to think about everything else. Because God is so good, we happened to be traveling with several nurses who set everything straight for them. They confirmed the fact that she hadn't been taking her antibiotic when they removed the dressings from her seriously infected stump. After cleaning her wound and redressing it, we prayed for them and soberly left. A few weeks ago I revisited their home, only to find out that the precious lady had succumbed to the infection and died. I was so glad I made it back there.

Aisha will have many friends on both sides of the border ready to welcome her into the world. To help her make friends wherever she goes, Rachel and I have been planning for some time that I will speak to Aisha only in Spanish, and Rachel will use English. One Mexican pastor friend of mine told me that they are more excited than I am about our bundle of joy that is on the way. They've already picked out a piñata for her first fiesta.